By the by, Vorador is not mine, either. Nor do I want him. I'm too jealous to share any man of mine. Anyway. Rose and Jials, however, are mine.

Raziel strode through the building and pushed open the doors to the outside. Lara followed and moved around to see a baker's dozen of vampires. One held Jials up, who was wildly swinging a stake. Speaking to him was a very tall, dark-green skinned vampire.

"For the last time," the male vampire was explaining as if to a child, "we are not here to kill you all. We are looking for Lara Croft."

"Die, you infernal undead!" Jials was clearly scared out of his mind by the appearance of the vampires and was trying valiantly for a man who was being held up as easily as a doll to stake the vampire. The male vampire speaking to him sighed deeply.

"You didn't listen to a word I said, did you?"

"Can we kill him?" the vampire holding him up inquired. "I'm getting hungry."

The green-skinned vampire chuckled softly. "No feeding until we find this Lara Croft."

"Then seek no farther." Lara walked toward them. "I am she."

The male vampire's eyes widened in surprise and interest. She found herself looking up into yellow-golden cat slit eyes, and he did in fact have huge, almost cat-like ears that accented his face nicely. He took her hand and kissed it in a very gentlemanly manner, surprising Lara as this towering, three-clawed non-human ages old moved and spoke with the culture upbringing of the best aristocracy.

"I came to an unknown world expecting darkness and horrifying sights and meet almost immediately a strikingly bright and exotic flower," he murmured over her hand. Had Lara been a teenage, she would have blushed and giggled. The man was very smooth with his courtesy and was well practiced. Instead, she chuckled throatily.

"You should be careful, master vampire, as I have poison spines hidden within this soft interior."

"Oh!" He smiled broadly, his eyes almost glowing in pleasure. "I wouldn't even begin to underestimate one so beautiful as yourself. Kain speaks of you with fondness, and that's quite a compliment from him."

"Oh does he?" Her eyebrow raised, then she turned to the vampire holding Jials.

"Would you please put him down? I doubt he'll do anything now that I am here, and he's turning a rather nice shade of blue."

The vampire sighed, but set him down, saying, "One lost meal." Jials eyed him worriedly a moment, then moved behind Lara.

"Ah, behold, the ever-so-brave occultist," Lara smiled sardonically. Jials poked her back.

"Hey, getting picked up and being threatened to become a meal is enough to make anyone worry."

Lara glanced back at him. "When I was over there, I was threatened to be eaten at least twice— I don't honestly remember how many times Kain threatened to kill me. Everyone else just threatened to kill me."

"But you're you," Jials retorted. "You're used to that sort of thing. I'm not."

Raziel moved up to Lara and nodded respectfully to the elder vampire.

"Vorador."

The aforementioned vampire turned to him with a surprised expression. He looked him up and down before inquiring slowly, "Raziel?"

"It is I."

"Impressive. Time on this planet has been good for you. Perhaps you should consider staying here at least semi-permanently if not for good."

Raziel smirked, but shook his head. "No, my home is Nosgoth."

Vorador shrugged. "As you wish, but it I had access to such a beautiful flower . . ." He trailed off, eyes appraising of Lara. She felt Raziel stiffen in anger beside her. Raziel gave a dry laugh.

"Yes, we do all know your taste for women. A lot of them."

Vorador placed a clawed hand on his chest in mock surprise and hurt.

"I'm struck you would ever consider me that shallow and that I would do such a thing." He grinned, showing his fangs as his claw fell again and stated, "but I am always open for new wives."

Before she could respond, he bowed deeply to both of them with that same taste of sarcastic air. "Behold, your entourage of vampires is at your command." He straightened. "I believe Kain said you had a Time Streamer infestation."

"That we do."

"Wonderful. Where did you last see him?"

Raziel gave him a quick description and Vorador nodded to the vampires. They pounced away, vanishing into the night almost instantly. Vorador stepped toward them both.

"My spies will be able to track him down once they see the last spot he was at that had a major event. In the meantime, may I inquire as to where we'll be putting up shop, so to speak?"

Lara and Raziel exchanged a look. After a moment, she sighed.

"Fine. For now I suppose I can allow you into my home."

"It isn't as if it's not large enough," Raziel shrugged, opening the fact. She nodded slightly, accepting the fact.

"Lara?" Jials asked suddenly from behind her. "Promise me something."

"I make no promises."

"Either way, will you eventually tell me the full story of what's going on here today? You told me about your trip already, so I know about that, but what has that to do with this?"

She turned to him. "Do you remember the Time Streamer I told you about?"

"Molbius?"

"Moebius," she corrected, but close enough. From behind her, Vorador snickered to himself.

"I believe I rather like the name Molbius."

Lara shook her head, but had to hide a smile. She kept her eyes on Jials and her face blank as she queried, "May we perhaps borrow a driver to take to my home?"

"Of course, of course," he nodded. "Any friend of Lara's . . . is . . ." he paused blinking at Vorador. "A very scary friend of mine," he finally finished.

"Thank you."

Jials headed into the building and Lara followed him. After a moment, both Nosgothians realized they were supposed to follow them. They trailed after Lara as she quickly made her way through the building, then walked out into the crisp night air again. It actually wasn't raining, and the sky was surprisingly free of clouds for this time of year, and the stars glowed down brightly. Raziel moved up next to her and Vorador watched the two of them.

'Ah,' he thought to himself. 'So this is why Kain asked me to watch them without specifying what he wanted me to look for.' He glanced at the human called Jials and saw in his eyes that he, too, saw what was going on between the two.

A sleek limousine came around the corner, and at Lara's expression, Jials shrugged, stating simply, "You should travel in style." Lara grimaced, but slid into it, Raziel after her. He had gotten used to the concept of 'automobiles' as they called them, though he was still slightly unnerved by them. Any vampire worth his salt had a teleportation spell at all times. Vorador, however, had never seen one of these streamlined hunks of moving metal before. At least, not anything to this design. He had seen the Sarafan's contraptions, so he was familiar with what it did. He ran his claws down the frame gently, studying the way the metal pieces fit together. After a moment of concentration, he slipped into the limo and curiously settled onto the cushioned seats, looking around with great interest. He was becoming intimately familiar with why Kain wanted to begin to use this world's technology. He met the gaze of Lara and began barraging her with questions about how and why it worked, and what functions it served. To his pleasure, Lara was a wellspring of information, and knew enough to give him a well-rounded answer on any question he asked. Raziel sat quietly next to her, absorbing the information, and looking between the two. He'd add his two cents at certain points, but mostly he watched Lara and how she carried herself. When he had met her, he hadn't thought she'd survive on Nosgoth for an instant. She was an outlander, and not familiar with the territory. But as he watched her, he realized she would have survived, and probably would have even thrived. Even here she sat, a human on Earth, and spoke quite easily and logically to a Nosgothic vampire centuries old, treating him no different than a colleague. He understood for the first time that she didn't really need him. It was seeming to be more and more that he needed her. And he wondered if he'd be able to leave this planet at all after this episode was done.

'No.' He hardened himself to his thinking. 'She doesn't need me, and that's exactly why I don't need to stay. I am not weak, and I certainly do not need her. Fine.' She didn't need him, and he didn't need her.

The limousine came to a stop, and Lara realized they had come to her mansion. She slid out when the door was opened by the driver, nodding a thanks to him. She moved forward as Vorador climbed out, followed by Raziel. Vorador looked up at her house, nodded appreciatively. She waved an invitation toward the house.

"Welcome to my home. I will warn you now, though, watch out. Otherwise you will get a ball thrown at you."

"A ball?" he repeated in amusement. Lara simply opened the door to the shout of "Mummy!"